


The Neighbor

by CrashingSuns



Category: No Fandom, Original Work
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Horror, One Shot, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-04
Updated: 2020-08-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:53:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25715344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrashingSuns/pseuds/CrashingSuns
Summary: A short horror story about someone and their neighbor





	The Neighbor

**Author's Note:**

> CW: stalker, mentions of psychosis-y symptoms, potential deviation from reality

I walk home from school. Always have. There’s something so peaceful about travelling alone and getting to see glimpses of different lives. It's a particularly windy day when I notice a real estate sign swinging in a neighbor's yard. There's already a red 'SOLD' sticker, even though it can't have been up for long. I suppose it is a fairly nice house. Big yard too.

Not even a week later the new person has moved in. They were quick about it too, one day the house was dark and the next there was a silver car in the drive. During dinner I ask my mom about the new neighbor. She, who normally knows all the going ons, seems confused. Nobody's seen them yet.

I shrug it off. Not like I had any reason to care. For the next two weeks they remain elusive. I only see an outline when they stand by the window or drive their car. It's not until one rainy morning that we meet. 

He’s raking leaves in his front yard as I pass by, trying to fashion my jacket into some form of protection against the sudden downpour. He watches, eyes following my hurried steps. After a moment he calls out my name to offer an umbrella. I take it, thank him, and walk away faster than I came. Even with the umbrella up, rain seeps into my skin and I shiver.

After that, he starts to pay me more attention. I begin to see his silver car trailing me when I go to school or walk my dog. Every time I leave my house on foot he's there. When he isn't driving, he waits by his windows, or in his front yard, looking around the neighborhood shrewdly.

My mom works long shifts at multiple jobs, so I don’t speak of him to avoid stressing her out. I'm left to find different ways to dodge him on my own. I take back roads, cut through lawns and patches of trees, all to avoid crossing paths. Somehow I can still feel him nearby, always just a few steps behind. I never stop, never turn around.

Eventually, the stress becomes too much to bear. Even in my dreams I see him. I tell my mom in a hushed voice that I need a ride to school. I tell her I don't feel safe walking. I tell her as briefly as possible about the neighbor. She promises to drive me to and from school tomorrow.

The next morning I get in her car, fingers crossed that this will be enough to throw him off my trail. I shake when we pass his house, so Mom turns off the AC. We pull onto the main road and all is clear. I keep my eyes trained out the windows, scanning the empty roads. We pass a side road and his silver car pulls just behind ours. I can see his face through the windshield. Blurry as it is in the early morning sun, I can see a smile.

“No!” I sob. Mom glances sideways towards me. “He found us.” I explain, trying to stop my tears. “The man that’s been following me has found us, in that silver car. Drive please, drive away.” She obliges, but keeps checking the rear view mirror. I offer to keep an eye on him while she drives, but she shakes her head. After a minute of checking and driving she slows down the car. The neighbor draws closer.

“Mom, he’s right there! What are you doing!” She turns around fully to look out the back windshield and then turns back to me. A strange sadness is in her eyes and her voice when she says, 

“I don’t see any silver car.” We stop moving and I look out the back window to see that he has parked too, just behind us. 

“Mom. Mom I’m serious.” She’s looking straight forward, not meeting my eyes. “Mom!”

His face appears in my window. I curl into a ball, and a hand touches my shoulder. He’s right outside our car.

“What’s bothering you? Please, say something.”

“Come out. You still haven’t returned my umbrella. You owe me.”

“What’s wrong? Please don’t cry, I can drive if you want.”

“I’ll get you eventually. I have all the time in the world.”

Their voices swirl together until I can’t tell if he’s outside or she’s inside. After a few minutes, Mom sighs and starts driving again. He follows.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is my first non fanfic to publish, and the first horror story I ever made, so I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
